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Currents To Medical Center Employees: At the Jan. 4 communications meeting Dr. Cassie Salgado updated the management team on infection control issues facing hospitals and MUSC Medical Center trends. She emphasized the need for education, tracking of hospital acquired organism rates and compliance monitoring. Work is currently underway to kick off new Medical Centerwide infection control initiatives. Everyone will be expected to fully support and comply with all initiatives to ensure for a strong infection control program.  Dave Northup, director of health care information systems, updated the management team concerning the work of the Information Management Committee’s Tactical Plan efforts.  He also shared tips for managing e-mail.  His comments are highlighted below. I would like to add a reminder that we must all be attuned to the fact that our computers are property of MUSC and are intended for business-related activity. While it’s recognized some incidental personal use may be necessary, similar to use of the telephone, we all need to be accountable for ensuring proper use of this MUSC resource.  Also, congratulations to everyone involved in the successful closure of our HUD financing. This was a monumental step in moving forward with the new Phase I hospital facility. Thank you very much. Sincerely,  W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center Epidemiologist urges contact precautions  Hospital epidemiologist Cassandra Salgado, M.D., encouraged a continued compliance with contact precautions, including gowns and gloves, and handwashing before and after patient care. Salgado reminded the audience of the importance of holding all staff accountable for following infection control practices by education and reminders. Staff showing continued noncompliance should be reported to the Infection Control or Hospital Epidemiology Department for further action, she said. Here at MUSC and nationwide, increased use of broad-spectrum antibiotics has significantly increased the rise of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) colitis and infections with extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL). These pathogens can be spread to other patients by clinicians who fail to comply with infection control practices and contact precautions. Pam Fogle, R.N., infection control coordinator, briefly reviewed special measures put into place to check C. diff infections which includes a special surface disinfectant and soap and water handwashing instead of alcohol because of the organism's ability to form spores that are not inactivated by alcohol. She also encouraged participation from all areas on a task force to be formed of staff to develop strategies to increase handwashing throughout the Medical Center. Fogle also announced that Joe Avant, Office of Occupational Safety and Health Professions, has confirmed with our state OSHA office that they will not be enforcing the annual requirement for medical evaluation and fit testing of N95 TB respirators secondary to a  amendment in the Appropriations Bill prohibiting the use of funds to enforce the regulation. Scheduled testing can be cancelled.  New hires and transfers will continue to be fit tested as appropriate to their clinical area.  Information Management Clinical systems director Dave Northrup presented the information management portion of the Medical Center’s Tactical Plan with an update followed by some e-mail efficiency tips. Information Management’s automated systems work group focuses on: Evaluation of responses to RFP for an advanced point of care clinical system Selection of clinical information system vendor Implementation of an electronic physician order entry  Implementation of a clinical documentation system Increased accessibility of knowledge-based and decision support online resources. It’s internal communications workgroup areas of focus are to: Identify the “take home message” Identify current and innovative mechanisms to disseminate information Enhance the use of Internet and Intranet resources to improve hospitalwide communications Provide access to kiosk-based personal computers for staff Define a communication plan, including time lines and continually evaluate effectiveness of the plan. Initiatives completed or under way by the automated systems workgroup are: Narrowed list of potential vendors for “Advanced point of Care(APOC)” system from six to two. Contact negotiations to begin this month. Transplant system implementation under way Replacement process for SurgiServe/perioperative system under way  Automated clinical documentation initiatives are under way in both the clinics and inpatient areas. Northrup said that the internal communications workgroup has met with David McNair from the McNair Group to discuss communication ideas and has conducted a focused review of the Medical Center’s weekly communications meeting, broadcast messages, the use of Intranet resources, The Catalyst and other print messages, and e-mail training and etiquette. He said that the workgroup recommends establishment of an ongoing “communication advisory committee” to maintain the gains achieved through the effort of the workgroup. E-mail Overload E-mail overload is a problem common to nearly everyone at the Medical Center. Northrup presented nine of many Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload from LeadershipDecisionworks by Stever Robbins. Tips: 1. Use a subject line to summarize not describe: People scan their inbox by subject. Make your subject rich enough that your readers can decide whether it’s relevant. The best way to do this is to summarize your message in your subject. 2. Give your reader full context at the start of your message. 3. When you copy lots of people, mark out why each person should care: Just because you send a message to six poor co-workers doesn’t mean all six know what to do when they get it. Ask yourself why you are sending to each recipient, and let them know at the start of the message what they should do with it. This also forces you to consider why you’re including each person. 4. Use the phone: If you are holding a dozen open conversations with one person, the slowness of typing is probably substantial overhead. Jot down all your main points on a piece of paper, pick up the phone and discuss those points. 5. Edit forwarded messages: For goodness sake, if someone sends you a message, don’t forward it along without editing it. Make it appropriate for the ultimate recipient and make sure it doesn’t get the original sender in trouble. 6. Meeting notifications: When scheduling a call or conference, include the topic in the invitation. It helps people prioritize and mange their calendar more effectively 7. Make your e-mail one page or less: make sure the meat of your e-mail is visible in the preview pane of your recipient’s mailer. That means the first two paragraphs should have the meat. Many people never read past the first screen, and very few read past the third. Northrup recommends that Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload from LeadershipDecisionworks by Stever Robbins be consulted for more advice on handling e-mail overload.   Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.